Art – Page 2 – Guila's Art & Other Assorted Joys

Accessories and Ornaments, Art, Fiber Art, Mixed Media, Tutorials

Tutorial – Fiber Art Collage – Greeting Cards

November 26, 2014November 27, 2017 Guila Greer

Fiber Art Collage

Here’s how I approach the process. It’s art, after all, so feel free to bend, change or ignore any of the following steps.

Supplies: (read through the tute – it’ll make more sense)

Blank Greeting Card (or medium of choice for mounting)
Background Fabric – a scrap from your stash
Batting or stabilizer to match size of background
Various scraps of coordinating fabric, threads, fancy fibers, Angelina, cheesecloth, ribbons, other non-cotton scraps such as wool, silk, burlap etc.
Glue stick – acid free
Thread to sew together layers of the collage. Machine or embroidery thread
Other embellishments of your choice: beads, charms etc.

Method:

Determine the overall “feel” of the piece – Elegant? Playful? Modern? Romantic?

Gather from your scrap bag and from your stash – pieces and bits that you think might belong in this piece (I often use color as my theme)

Gather scraps and other possible materials to use

Vary these design elements such as you would for any composition

I think of these pieces as mini art quilts and assemble in layers

Layer one – background (stabilized)
Layer two – texture and color
Layer three – focal motif (just one example of my approach)

5. If preparing your mini fiber art collage for a greeting card – roughly cut your background fabric to measure at least one inch in from all four sides.

e.g. card is 5 by 7; background fabric no larger than 3 by 5

Your collage will be built on this background; may entirely cover it; may extend from any or all of the sides. If you prefer a frayed edge, tear your fabric instead of cutting.

6. Stabilize your background by whichever means you prefer (and happen to have on hand). I like to use something like Pellon Craft-fuse or Décor Bond. Or I may use regular cotton quilt batting. If you use batting, cover it with muslin so that it will adhere firmly to the card.

Stabilizer of your choice added to wrong side of background fabric

7. Add your texture and color elements into a design that pleases your eye. Pin first, then stitch to attach elements to background. Or just go for it; don’t overthink t!

First layer enhanced by ribbon and hand dyed cheesecloth. — First layer enhanced by ribbon and hand dyed cheesecloth

8. Quilt by machine or by hand with thread of choice. Get crazy!

First pass at the machine with a narrow zig-zag stitch. You can see that I was tweaking as I went.

The angelina scrap was pinned to the piece after the stitching.

9. Add your final element(s). This may be a focal point OR it may be something (for example a circle of couching or beads) that enhances the focal element. In this case I isolated one element from some vintage lace trim and painted it.

10. Affix your completed piece to the front of the card with an acid free glue stick. (I like UHU best but also use Avery or others)

Have fun! I’d LOVE to see what you come up with. Send a pic to me – and I’ll post it!

And please let me know what you think of this tutorial… Thank you!

This tutorial and all photos are the exclusive property of Guila Greer. It is for your personal use only. Please do not copy.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

Art, Art Quilt, Fiber Art, Grandchildren, Quilts

Beach Buddies – featured on the Superior Threads Blog

August 26, 2014 Guila Greer

I was so excited to see that Superior Threads has featured my art quilt “Beach Buddies” on their blog.

http://www.superiorthreads.com/blog/2014/8/superior-spotlight-guila-g/

Years ago I took a photo of my husband and oldest granddaughter walking on the beach. I always loved that photo and knew that someday I would do something special with it. After learning more about making pictorial quilts, including a workshop with Wendy Butler Berns, I made this quilt.

I enjoyed the process of making it immensely – and loved quilting it with silk thread. I used Superior’s Kimono #100, a very fine thread.

detail 1 I did the quilting with #100 Kimono Silk — Detail 1

detail 2 The little girl is my oldest granddaughte — Detail 4

And this is the photo that I took when my granddaughter was only 2 years old. She is now a senior in high school !

This is the photo of John and Marley that I based — Original Photo

Art, Art Quilt, Fiber Art, Mixed Media, Quilts, works in process

Work (still) in Progress

May 2, 2014 Guila Greer

There are lots of reasons we don’t finish our projects right away. And one of them is that we’re not quite sure how we WANT to complete the piece.

So this has been hanging around for awhile now on my design wall.

This started as a plain piece of Lutradur. I took a photo of a tree on my street and worked with it using Photoshop Elements. I took out everything that I didn’t want in my finished piece including all the leaves on the tree. This step also included removing all the color.

In the meantime I painted the Lutradur with acrylic paints. I used some from Golden paint and some Lumiere in various coppery hues.

Then the moment of truth as I printed my tree onto the Lutradur.

Then lots of fun to thread paint the tree itself. I used a variegated 40 weight cotton from King Tut – (In the meantime I had layered the piece with cotton batting.

and that’s when I stopped.

The biggest question in my mind is whether or not to add quilting.

So now it’s time to finish and I’ve given myself 2 weeks to do that. I hope by posting the process to date I’ll have more accountability to do that – to keep it as a priority.

What’s your opinion on adding more quilting to the piece?

Art, Art Quilt, Classes, Fiber Art, Journal Size, Quilts, Workshops

SO EXCITED !!! We’re Going To Do a Teapot Class !!!

March 5, 2014March 5, 2014 Guila Greer

Betsy and I designed and created these cute little art quilts last year in preparation for art quilt technique classes at Baron’s Sewing Center in Woodland Hills.

Now I am excited to announce that a series of Teapot workshops are scheduled in the Simi Valley at Quilty Pleasures starting this coming April. Most of the construction of these adorable quilts is using fusibles and machine appliqué. You will also learn how to apply fancy yarn fibers using couching techniques. And it’s a chance to dig into your button box and gather up those bits of fancy lace and trim to embellish your creations.

There are 4 Wednesday sessions: April 30, May 7, 14 and 28th – all 5:30 to 8:30 PM

Call Quilty Pleasures (805) 581-1577 today to sign up. This will be a fun class.

Art, Fiber Art, Mixed Media

“The Faster I Go The Behinder I Get”

December 13, 2013 Guila Greer

Okay, who said that first?

Anybody remember?

Well, it must’ve been during the last half of December when those words were uttered. What’s the deal, folks? It doesn’t seem to matter when I start the preparations, this time comes and there’s so much left: shopping, cooking, sewing, painting…..Ahhhhh, but I love it all !!!

Speaking of which, I just put these on Etsy. (Click on ‘shopping’ on my home page OR type in: honeyquilts.etsy.com

They are mini Fiber Collages mounted on an acid free 5 by 7 inch Strathmore deckled edge card. The card itself is blank inside so you can write the message of your choice OR just put the card in a frame. Either way, if it’s a gift it will be sure to be enjoyed for a long time.

Art

Open Studio & Art Bazaar

August 26, 2013 Guila Greer

Hey – L.A. area friends – This coming Saturday I will be participating in an Open Studio and Art Bazaar in downtown Los Angeles. Come and see a wonderful display of art and start early on your Holiday gift search!

RSVP required – Please contact Amy – amyshawley@gmail.com

Art, Humor, Life

Just Picture This ! My Morning at West Valley

August 12, 2013August 17, 2013 Guila Greer

I should have realized how the day would unfold when I was hunting for my keys all over – I was running a few minute late and rushing. Guess where they were? Yup! In my hand! %$^&% Things progressed rapidly from there…. I picked up my friend and we headed for West Valley for our Monday workouts.

Today was high level performance art at the “Y’. I was happy to leave unharmed! You just wouldn’t believe it. First, in the weight room (which was unusually crowded – even for Monday), someone had shoved some equipment around and there was a huge weight lifting apparatus blocking access to the leg press.

Well I managed to sqiggle my way to it (leg press) and some bozo started using the weights and almost clunked my friend on the head while she was waiting for my set to be done. Then it was even harder to get to the leg curl machine. We did a few more apparati then decided to call it a day and go to the pool while our bodies were still intact.
Door to the changing room: locked. A guy was nearby leaning against the wall and snarled – “Ya can’t go in there; the shower’s clogged.”

me -“Well, we have to change “-

him-“well ya can’t go in there.”

me -” We’re not using the showers right now. We have to change into our suits. Can we use the lockers? We have to lock up our stuff. Is the toilet working?” We pressed on.

Finally he threw his hands in the air and unlocked the door. “Go, just go – I’ve been waiting an hour to get in there – I’ll wait another hour. just go.” We ran in before he could change his mind.
In the pool. Doing laps. All of a sudden my head got tangled up in something. The lap divider floatie thing! The kid who was being lifeguard was fixing additional lanes WHILE WE WERE SWIMMING!!! Almost took my head off.
HELP!!!
I went home and hid, lol.

PS – when we finished our laps and went back to the dressing room, the plumber had apparently had success – the showers were working!

Accessories and Ornaments, Art, Home Dec

Paint and Bead Your Own Decorative Pillow ! Back By Demand Jan. 14, 2014

July 30, 2013January 12, 2014 Guila Greer

I’ve been busy preparing for what is shaping up to be an exciting Fall schedule of teaching. One of the new workshops planned is to make your own decorative pillow. You will paint your own fabric and embellish it with beads. The class is on the schedule at Baron’s Sewing Center in Woodland Hills for September 24th and October 8th, 2013.

Here is the one that I finished the other day.

I started with a piece of white PFD Kona cotton and painted the background with an acrylic wash of color. Next I painted the flowers and layered the piece with batting and lining. Then the REAL fun began as I used thread painting to add depth and texture to the design. Here’s where you can really let yourself experiment with color and various thread weights. I particularly liked the look of some variegated 30 wt. thread.

When I declared the thread painting “done” I got out my beads and went to town! Because this will be used for “show and tell” in class I wanted to be sure to incorporate several basic beading stitches. I used moss stitch, scatter stitch, seed stitch, bugle pathways, back stitch and stacked stitch.

My goal was to achieve a vibrant mix of color, texture and bling. Did I achieve it??

Accessories and Ornaments, Art, Art Journal, Dreams, Journal Cover, Mixed Media

Cover Your Journal or other Notebook in Style! Workshop March 19

March 15, 2013 Guila Greer

The more I make these samples the more ideas I get for using them. Right now I’m working on a cute cover for a collection of recipes. Also in the works is a cover that’s perfect for a knitting or crochet diary. Keep records of what you made – type of yarn – needles used, and so on.

Here are a couple more that are suitable for just about any topic. One of the benefits of these particular covers is that when your composition book is full you can slip it out and replace it with a brand new one.

The cover shown above was made by Betsy Farwell and features a collage of nettiing with colorful ribbons and an unique toggle closure.

I made this cover from a colorful batik and embellished it with a collage of cheesecloth, lace, silk pod, and decorative hand and machine stitching.

Call Baron’s in Woodland Hills for details about the Journal Cover Workshop scheduled for March 19 from 6 until 9 PM at Baron’s Sewing Center in Woodland Hills. Call 818-224-2746.

Accessories and Ornaments, Art, Art Journal, Fiber Art, Journal Cover, Workshops

Journal Covers – See Class Samples

March 7, 2013March 7, 2013 Guila Greer

Hot off the presses!!!

We just dropped off 2 embellished journal covers at Baron’s. “How to create an embellished/collaged fabric journal cover” Workshop is scheduled for Saturday March 16 and repeated Tuesday March 19. Call Baron’s to register or for details.

This cover fits a composition book approximately 9 inches high by 7 1/2 inches wide.

This is the size we will be making in class. We will provide the composition books in the purchased supply kit.

This cover was adapted to fit a spiral bound art journal measuring approximately 5 1/2 inches by 8 inches. We will provide guidelines for adapting directions for other sizes.